Beyond All Limits
by Trufreak89
Summary: Sequel to Skeletons in the closet. With nothing to lose Sydney seeks revenge.once again there is FF in this fic [Complete]
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Beyond all limits

**Summary:** Sequel to Skeletons in the closet. With nothing to lose Sydney seeks revenge.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own alias, I only own the character you don't know.

**Timeline:** AU after the first one

**Rating: **R (this chap is more leaning to PG-13 but the over all fic will be R)

**A/N: **This is set after skeletons in the closet, if you haven't read it you'll be lost. I was going to leave the sequel till after Christmas, but Eyghon's nice review convinced me to start it now.

Chapter one

Jack stared at the picture in his newspaper that had captivated his attention. He had been in Las Vegas visiting Kendall and project Black hole and stared at the old newspaper he had found in one of the waiting areas. It was two months old and it showed a picture of a man named Calvin West.

Sydney had sent him a letter four months ago saying she was engaged and she was happy she'd been left to have a normal life. Reading about this man's murder Jack recognised the details as being almost identical to Danny's faked murder.

When he arrived at Sydney's house he found a sold sign on the lawn and a family playing in the garden. "Excuse me." He called to a middle-aged woman who held a small child. "The previous owner. Do you have any way of contacting her? I'm her father, I lost her new address." The woman shook her head.

"I'm sorry I never met her. She moved out before we even viewed the place." Jack nodded and got back into his car.

He rang Dixon and explained what had happened. "Sydney left this organization Jack, officially there's nothing I can do…unofficially my resources are at your disposal."

A few nights later Marshall sat in his office in the early hours of the morning working on a new gadget when he saw figure slip by his door. There were few agents in who weren't security and he went to his door for a closer inspection. He was confronted by a gun and pushed back inside his office by a figure completely in black wearing a mask.

The intruder took out a rope and bound his hands then took off his tie and gagged him. He could have sworn they said 'sorry' as they did so. The intruder went to his computer and easily gained access to it. They pulled night vision goggles out of their rucksack and then after a few moments of typing the entire power for a one-mile radius went off.

The intruder slipped through the building undetected as security and agents ran around franticly trying to get the power to come back. After prying up two metal gates they were finally where they intended to be.

After applying a power surge to the electronic door they were in the cell where Daniel Hecht lay sleeping. Skillfully and patiently they bound his hands without waking him and then pressed a gun inside his mouth.

His eyes opened wide in horror and he was forced to his feet and out of the cell. They escaped from the building unchallenged and into the underground car park. Danny's abductor forced him into the back of a van and then delivered a sharp blow to his temple, knocking him unconscious.

When he woke up he was bound to a chair in what looked like a storage hanger. He pulled against his restraints, but the rope only bit into his flesh and so he stopped his feeble efforts.

"Whoever you are I owe you a favour." He called out into the darkness. "Getting me out of that cell…I can pay you for it…" He stopped as he felt the cold bite of a steel blade at his throat.

"You'll wish I'd left you there." A voice said gruffly in his ear. The blade nicked him and he felt a small trail of blood seep down onto his CIA regulation uniform. He hissed at the searing pain and heard his captor laugh.

"You're pathetic Hecht. You'll be easy."

"Who the fuck are you?" Danny roared in anger that his ego was being bruised. He heard the person move and then come into his line of view as a lamp was switched on.

"Did you miss me?" Sydney stared back at him and he gasped at her appearance.

She was more muscular than he remembered, and the vest she wore showed how much she had developed. Her hair was shorter and hung haphazardly in a ponytail and her eyes were cold and hard. They were no longer deep pools of chocolate that men could drown in. They were hardened and angry and she had lines on her eyes from lack of sleep.

She pulled up a chair beside him and sat on it backwards. "Syd…I…"

"How'd you do it Danny?" Did you pay someone? Give them the details of your murder then…bam. No more happy Sydney." He shook his head in confusion.

"How'd I do what?" He asked and earned himself a punch to the head. "I haven't done anything. I've been in that cell for the past six months." She sighed and took out her blade again.

"I'd hoped you'd be a man Danny. I thought you'd accept that you were caught and you had to be punished." She held the blade to his shoulder. "Guess I was wrong." With one fluid motion she pushed the knife through his shoulder until it emerged on the other side. He screamed in pain.

"You crazy bitch." She twisted the knife and grinned as tears welled in his eyes.

"How did you do it Danny? How did you know about him?"

"Who?" Danny cried out. "Who am I supposed to know about?" She shook her head and picked up another knife. It went easily through his knee and lodged in his cartilage.

"I don't know!" He screamed. "Sydney please…"

After two hours of torturing and a lot of pain for Danny she finally accepted what he was saying. "Sydney I swear I told you the truth." He cried as she drove him somewhere while he was blindfold. "Please believe me. I didn't know you had a fiancé." She opened the back of the van and revealed they were at the CIA building.

"I know you told the truth. I used truth serum on you when you were asleep."

Jack finished listening to Danny's statement as he sat in his hospital room. "She hurt me for the fun of it. She's flipped…I mean her eyes were so cold…I've worked with a lot of dodgy people, but Sydney…" Jack pushed down on his knee and caused him to scream.

"And who made her like that?" He growled. Danny bit his lip and growled back.

"You and Irina screwed her up long before I met her Jack."

Sydney sat in her motel room and looked at the list she had made of suspects for the murder and their reasons. "Danny, to get her back for being engaged to someone else." She crossed his name off. "Jack, to get her to go back and give up a normal life. Lauren, revenge. Elliot, to get her back for hurting her as Julia. Vaughn, for having Lauren's attention and leaving him. Zac, he'd do anything to make Elliot happy. Sark, revenge."

The next logical choices on her list were her father, Elliot and Zac they knew where she was living, and her father knew about Calvin. Zac had booked into the motel room a few doors up before a mission and she was getting ready to pay him a visit. She'd find out who had killed Calvin and wrecked her perfect life. No matter what it took. She'd lost everything and hit the bottom long ago. She was passed good and evil and ran on pure anger and pain alone.

She loaded her gun and grabbed her rucksack before leaving or Calvin's room. She looked different with her short black hair, usually gelled at odd angles and she no longer dressed casually or smartly unless it was required. She always dressed in what would allow her to move easily, to fight or to flee, both were necessary.

When Zac opened the door the first thing he saw was a beautiful woman in combats and a tank, hiding her eyes with sunglasses. "Hi, can I help?" She pulled out the gun and pushed him inside.

"I don't know. Can you raise the dead?"

His hands flew up as his gun lay too far away and he stood still as the woman pushed him into a chair. She bound his wrists tightly and then removed the sunglasses. He recognised the woman vaguely and when she spoke it suddenly dawned on him who it was.

"Syd?" She scowled and delivered a blow to his stomach with her fist.

"Shut up. You can't call me that anymore…did you do it?" He looked confused at her question. "I'll rephrase that. What would you do for Elliot? How far would you go for her?"

"Elliot's like family. I'd do anything to help her…" Sydney punched him again.

"Just what I thought. How far though Zac?" She pushed her gun into his mouth. "Would you die for her?" He stared at the gun and then at the anger in Sydney's eyes and nodded, causing the gun to hit off the roof of his mouth.

"You love her don't you?" He nodded again and she removed the gun. "You'd go to any lengths for her, because you love her and if you lost her it would send you over the edge. You'd do anything that had to be done to make it right wouldn't you?"

"I know what happened to your fiancé. I'm sorry." For a moment she looked calm and normal, just like the old Sydney. Then the anger returned.

"I don't want your pity. I want the truth. Did you do it?" He looked genuinely shocked at her question.

"Syd I would never hurt you like that. You have to believe me…I checked the time and date of his murder. It wasn't me. I was on a mission with Weiss in Korea…"

"And Elliot? Vaughn? My father? Where were they?" She snapped, a part of her hoping they all had alibis too. He sighed and looked down to the floor.

"I don't know about the others, but Elliot would never…"

"Thanks." She grabbed a needle from inside her rucksack and smiled. "Don't worry, this won't hurt." The contents of the needle seeped into his arm and she struck him unconscious before untying him and shoving him on the bed. She planted a large supply of cocaine in his pocket and then called the police.

"Hi. A dealer that keeps hassling the people at the Sleep-easy motel has just approached me. I think he's passed out in his room and the doors wide open. He's got a shit load of stuff on him. It's room twelve…" She hung up and sighed.

"You'll only be arrested for a little while. I just can't have you warning the others just yet. I owe you one Zac."

She left the motel room and packed up her things. She was gone long before the police arrived at Zac's room and dragged him out of bed and into a police car as he shouted that he was a CIA officer and had been set up.

The next person she knew where to find was Sark, and even if he hadn't killed Calvin, which was probably true she wanted some fun with the blue-eyed assassin. She'd teach him why he shouldn't have pushed her so far, now she was pushed far beyond her limit and she no longer upheld her moral outlook on life. She didn't value life as it was so easy to take and she intended on taking it from Calvin's killer.

She'd go through her old allies, lovers and enemies until she found the one responsible, the one who claimed her for their own and had destroyed her life in the process. And when she found them she'd teach them that death could be a very sweet alternative to facing a grieving woman.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title: **Beyond all limits

**Summary:** Sequel to Skeletons in the closet. With nothing to lose Sydney seeks revenge.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own alias, I only own the character you don't know.

**Timeline:** AU after the first one

**Rating: **R

**A/N: **This is set after skeletons in the closet, if you haven't read it you'll be lost.

Chapter Two

She found Sark quite easily. Barely six months after the Covenant crumbled he had found a new employer. Sydney was still unsure of who it was he had found but that didn't concern her. She only wanted Sark, not his employer.

He was in a bar in Las Angeles when she found him. He looked exactly the same as he had the day she'd last seen him, but Sydney had changed. She no longer looked like the caring young woman she had once been. Her clothes no longer hid her muscular arms that she had developed, her hardened, life weary eyes sent shivers down those who approached her and as Sark watched her dance with some random stranger she had pulled onto the dance floor he did not recognise her.

After the dance he approached Sydney with a charming smile. "May I buy you a drink" She allowed him to lead her to his table and order her a beer. The second the waiter leaves she has a knife on him under the table. "If you wish to be a father Mr. Sark I would suggest you co-operate."

"Who are you" He practically growled as she dug the knife against his pants. She laughed as the waiter handed her the drink he ordered for her and shook her head.

"Come on Sark it hasn't been that long, how could you forget me" She leaned in close to his ear and whispered huskily. "After all you were convinced we were destined to work together."

He inhaled sharply as he realised exactly who his attacker was. "Sydney?" He choked out.

"Well done Sark." She dug the knife against him once again. "I'm going to ask you a very simple question Sark, and if you be a very good boy and answer truthfully then I won't be making you a eunuch." He looked angered at Sydney's mockery of him, but he nodded in agreement to her offer.

"Did you know a man named Calvin West?" She asked, almost wincing at saying his name and having images of Calvin lying dead in their bathtub and knowing once again it was her fault.

Sark paused for a moment to think before answering with a shake of his head. "I don't believe I know a Calvin West. I know of him, but never me the man." At the words 'of him' Sydney's attention snapped from her guilty memories to Sark. " A lot's changed Sydney. Dixon informed me of your fiancé's death. I'm sorry."

"Why would Dixon tell you?" She growled and pushed the knife against him again.

"I'm a CIA agent Sydney. I always have been…"

"You're lying!" She hissed and shook her head to dismiss him.

"Ask Kendall, Dixon, El…" He stopped but it was too late.

"Elliot? Elliot knew you were CIA?" He stared down into his glass of wine and nodded.

"I met her the day her and Zac had to leave SD-6."

"Tell me." She removed the knife, causing Sark to sigh in relief and waited patiently for Sark to tell his tale.

October 3rd 2001

"Ah Julian. Welcome to project black hole." Kendall smiled and shook his hand. "I've heard a lot of good things about you." The young man beamed at his compliment, but he didn't look like he needed to be told he was good at his job. He stood with confidence and pride as he watched the other agents scuttle around.

He watched with fascination as a woman in street clothes approached Kendall a look of hatred in her eyes and a man following behind her trying to catch her. "You bastard!" She shouted at Kendall. "Why wouldn't you let me tell her?" Kendall's expression softened to one of remorse as the young woman stood before him tears of pain and rage falling down her cheeks.

"Agent Gable, I know you and this one woman have a deep friendship and working relationship but she is still SD-6 she can not be brought out of there. It would ruin her whole life, telling her that she's been fighting for the enemy, that could destroy a person…"

"She's strong." Elliot argued. "I know she can handle it…" Kendall looked to the ground and then shook his head.

"Agent Gable, I'm sorry but the young woman can't be told about SD-6. You and your partner will resume normal CIA duties. Your deep cover is finished, you are not to have contact with anything related to that mission do you understand? Do you understand?"

"Yes sir." It was said with venom and hatred but Kendall knew Elliot would stick to her word.

"Good. Now you and Zac can concentrate on training you're new partner on how the CIA does things." Elliot looked at Sark with a gaze of malice and discontent.

"Let's get two things straight Sark, one I'm not so stop checking me out and two you will never replace Sydney Bristow, she will always be better than you and she will always be my true partner. Got it?"

**Present**

"I've spent every second since then trying to be better than you, or just as good as you in her eyes. Admit it, it was the same for you. Everything we did when we were with her was to impress her; we wanted to show her how much we'd learned from her. How much we'd grown, that we didn't her, but she always knew we did. No matter how good we get Sydney we still need her."

Sydney nodded in agreement. "I used to be like that too Sark." She stared absently at into the crowd. "Then I realized I was better than her." Sydney left the table and immediately saw Sark get on his cell phone. "Tell her she's next Sark."


	3. Chapter 3

**Title: **Beyond all limits

**Summary:** Sequel to Skeletons in the closet. With nothing to lose Sydney seeks revenge.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own alias, I only own the character you don't know.

**Timeline:** AU after the first one

**Rating: **R

**A/N: **This is set after skeletons in the closet, if you haven't read it you'll be lost.

Chapter Three

It didn't take long for the CIA to find out what Sydney had been up to. Sark was debriefed and Zac was released from police custody. The two men sat in the debriefing room and watched as Jack and Dixon came in accompanied by Kendall.

"We have to warn Elliot…" Zac began but was cut off by Kendall.

"We don't have to do anything. Elliot Gable is no longer part of this agency, she is not our responsibility…"

"Sydney will kill her if she finds out Elliot had anything to do with her fiancé's death." Jack objected. "Elliot Gable betrayed not only this agency buy my trust as her friend and former handler. It's not her I'm concerned for. I don't want my daughter to be a murderer."

"It's not our concern." Kendall scorned. "Elliot defected. Her safety is her concern now. Not ours. Sydney left this organization also, neither woman's safety are our concern anymore."

Zac slammed his hand off the table as he rose from the table. "They were two of our most prized agents and now you've given up on them…"

"They gave up on us." Dixon corrected. "Now they're both on their own."

Elliot Gable had changed in the few months that Sydney had been gone. She wasn't the only one who could snap and turn away from the CIA. She felt warm and soft arms wrap around her as she lay in bed and smiled. "I thought you were asleep."

"You know I can't sleep when you're on a mission." Her lover mumbled into her ear. "What did you find out?"

"Sydney's out for vengeance. She's already been in touch with Danny, Zac and Sark and now she's after me. Her fiancé was killed and she's looking for his killer…Did you…"

Elliot paused in her accusation as she heard her lover sigh. "I've kept a close eye over Sydney, but I did not kill her fiancé." Elliot nodded accepting her word.

"Lauren…you still love her don't you?" Elliot didn't need and an answer to know the truth but Lauren still replied.

"So do you." Elliot nodded. "It's not important though, we're both settling for second best, but second best is still bloody damn good."

"She'll come after both of us when she finds out what we've become." Elliot muttered as they lay in the darkness, a place Elliot had been since finding out that Sydney had known exactly what she was doing as she'd attempted to rape her.

Lauren laughed slightly next to her ear, sending a warm and tickling breeze over it. "Elle the CIA are scared of us, do you really think she can do anything to us now?" Lauren sighed as she realized that Sydney Bristow wasn't part of the CIA anymore, she didn't play by their rules and because of her grief she wouldn't play by any rules but her own.

"I'll increase security." Lauren muttered as she closed her eye to sleep. "I won't let her get near you Elle, she won't hurt you again. I promise."


	4. Chaoter 4

**Title: **Beyond all limits

**Summary:** Sequel to Skeletons in the closet. With nothing to lose Sydney seeks revenge.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own alias, I only own the character you don't know.

**Timeline:** AU after the first one

**Rating: **R

**A/N: **This is set after skeletons in the closet, if you haven't read it you'll be lost.

Chapter Four

Sydney waited patiently on the doorstep of the house she had parked outside of. The owner opened the door and found no shock in seeing her on his doorstep after so long.

"They told me you'd be coming." He muttered as he stood aside to let her in. She cautiously went into his house, keeping an eye on his movements as he led her to the living room. "I'm sorry about your fiancé."

"Thank you." She replied as she sat down on a chair and he sat on a couch opposite her.

"Your father told me you had a boyfriend when he came back from finding you. He said you had a good life, that you were safe and happy. He wouldn't tell me where you were."

"I asked him not to." Sydney's reply was blunt and Vaughn looked over to the woman he had once considered his soul mate.

"Do you think I killed him?" He asked, his gaze searching her eyes to try and find some trace of the Sydney he had known.

"You were aware of Danny's 'murder,' you could have easily copied it…"

"That wasn't my question."

He got off the couch and stood before her. "Do. You. Think. I. Killed. Him?" He watched as Sydney's harsh expression softened and she stood and wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace. She broke down in tears as he returned the embrace lovingly as though it were just yesterday that they had shared a kiss in the ruined office of SD-6.

"No." She finally choked out as they both slumped to the floor still holding one another. "I just need to find out who did. I need justice."

"It's not justice." Vaughn whispered in her ear. "It's vengeance. It's consuming and it's blinding and it will consume your life if you give into it." Sydney pulled away from him and shook her head.

"I have to get Calvin's killer. I need to find them and make them pay for what they did to him and to me. Sometimes Vaughn, we can't play by the usual rules. Sometimes the only way for justice to be found is to go in to darkness, to be consumed by rage and disgust and resentment and let it darken you."

Vaughn's eyes lowered as he recognized why Sydney had said those things.

A long time ago when they had first been working with each other and Sydney had started to lean on him he had given her a speech when her father had not attended a dinner with her. Obviously from her words she had remembered his words exactly.

"…_In this job you see darkness... you see the worst in people. The jobs are different and the missions change and the enemies have a thousand names. The one crucial thing the one real responsibility you have is to not let your rage and your resentment and your disgust darken you. When you're at your absolute lowest, your most depressed, just remember that you can always, you know…" _

"You've got my number." Vaughn repeated the last of the conversation and tears ran from Sydney's cheeks as she remembered their connection and deep bond.

"Where is Lauren?" She asked, pushing her emotions aside to concentrate on the task at hand. Vaughn shrugged.

"She left when you did. She had nothing. No CIA connections, no Covenant connections, it didn't exist anymore, and no money or influence. That was a long time ago though. Now she and Elliot run an organisation known as 'The Order.' Elliot and Lauren now run the most successful crime syndicate in the world. Lauren founded it on her own, scraped her way back into the big leagues then Elliot defected about six months ago and joined her."

"I need your help." She leaned against his couch and stared intently at him as she spoke. "I don't want to lose myself Vaughn. I don't want to slip back into this world of pain and misery again. I need justice for Calvin, but if I try to get it on my own I'll go too far to be redeemed. I'm not like that, not like them. Please help me." She collapsed into his arms as she wept.

Underneath all of the pain and anguish and death she was the same old Sydney who was not willing to stoop as low as the vermin they had fought on a daily basis.

"If you want justice then get it the way you tried last time, when you thought Sloane had killed Danny. Work with the CIA again, help us bring down The Order and then you can rest again, you can leave and never look back and you'll have justice, not vengeance."

Sydney looked up warily into his warm and loving gaze searching for signs of danger or deceit, but found non and for the first time since Calvin's death she had faith in someone and trusted them enough to allow them to take her into the CIA.

As she sat in the briefing room she watched as people looked through the windows to see the great Sydney Bristow who had fallen from grace. She was no longer the admired and respected CIA agent, who was seen as competent and unbreakable.

She was a broken and distrusting woman who had disobeyed her own rules and morals and had been tainted with a lust for vengeance. She looked up as the door opened and found familiars faces walking in to take their places at the table.

Dixon stood at the far end of the table while Jack and Vaughn sat on either side of Sydney and Weiss and Marshall sat opposite them. Marshall smiled timidly at the exhausted woman who he had not seen in so long that he had forgotten what it was like to see her smile, unfortunately after what Sydney had went through and lost she found no reason to smile and merely nodded her head in acknowledgement.

"It's good to have you back Syd." Dixon smiled and was rewarded with a cold glare from her.

"I'm here to help take down Lauren and Elliot and unless you have a mission which will do that in the next week I'll do it on my own." Dixon nodded and her father spoke.

"Intel shows that Lauren and Elliot are looking for you, they're not going to wait for you to get to them. This means that your personal security…"

"Thanks." Sydney muttered as she stood up to leave. "If they're looking for me I don't need you people."

"Sydney, this is dangerous. Elliot was the best agent the CIA has had in the last fifty years. She was my agent so I should know, she's stronger and greater than she was and Lauren is no longer the weak threat she was. She is highly field trained and fully capable of killing you, considering both woman's past history with you they will be more than willing to kill you."

"Do you think I don't know that?" Sydney's expression grew dark and angry. "I found out everything I could about The Order from a contact before the CIA let me see their documents on it. I know how influential and powerful Lauren an Elliot are, and believe me I know about they're feelings about me. I know that going after them is suicide. I know that there is a slim chance that neither of them killed Calvin, but I don't care. Whether or not they were responsible for Calvin's murder they destroyed my life long ago and now I'm returning the favour. So I'll wait for them to find me and then we'll see just who's better, and _anyone_ who stands in my way will suffer the consequences!" She stormed out unchallenged and Vaughn slunk his head onto the table and sighed.

He'd though that he'd got to Sydney in time, helped her from sinking too low or going too far past the line of justice and vengeance, but he'd been wrong. He'd lost Sydney once again and this time he doubted she could be broke back from the dark and twisted place she had seeped into.


	5. Chapter 5

**Title: **Beyond all limits

**Summary:** Sequel to Skeletons in the closet. With nothing to lose Sydney seeks revenge.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own alias, I only own the character you don't know.

**Timeline:** AU after the first one

**Rating: **R

**A/N: **This is set after skeletons in the closet, if you haven't read it you'll be lost.

Chapter Five

People often said the best place to hide was in plain sight. In Sydney's world, one of espionage and the latest technology, fifty feet under the ground would be plain sight. She needed Lauren and Elliot's attention. So she found a way to get it.

Two weeks after she had fled the CIA building she had tapped into their computer system and communication records. She knew of every mission that The Order under went, she knew of every operative who became known to the CIA and after two weeks of endless surveillance and research she finally intercepted a communication between Dixon and a CIA agent.

Lauren was going on a mission. No lackeys or backup, just her. Sydney prepared for two days before the mission started. She trained harder, slept less and ran through every possibility that could occur on the mission.

Finally when the day came she arrived at Lauren's destination earlier than her and booked a hotel room to change in. She looked at herself in the full-length mirror that sat in the corner of the hotel bedroom.

At the age of thirty-two Sydney Bristow was still the thin young woman she had been, but now her body was more toned with muscles and she gave off an air of danger. Her hair was shorter and simply pushed into a ponytail without any effort or style.

She wore faded jeans and a shirt with a sweater wrapped around her waist and sneakers on her feet. She no longer wore suits or high heels, or extravagant clothes. She wore black a lot. Whether it was to mourn her fiancé or to dress as she felt she didn't know. She felt no desire for bright and happy clothes.

In her old life she would dress up to enter the party of Lauren's target, but that was the old Sydney. She dressed in black cargo pants and a vest complete with a plain black hooded sweatshirt. She hid a ski mask in her pocket and place what she needed in her backpack.

She slipped into the party undetected through a ventilation shaft and into a large kitchen where she hid in a pantry until the coast was clear and she made her way to the study of Stewart Valcin.

She typed in the access code required into a panel next to a handless door and it opened to lead Sydney into a small room with a laptop sitting in the centre on a desk. She hid under the desk and waited for an hour for the time Lauren was due to arrive.

The door opened and Sydney knew someone accessing the computer through the tap, tap, tapping of keys that could be heard from under the desk. Then the computer beeped and the CD-drive opened. As she heard it close Sydney rolled from under the desk, knocking down the woman standing in front of it.

Sydney pulled her gun out and found she was pinning down a young woman who was not Lauren. Lauren must have been tipped off Sydney was on her trail. She didn't have long to think as the door opened and a dozen armed security guards entered the room and surrounded her. She dropped her weapon and put her hands in the air as she rose slowly to her feet allowing the operative Lauren had sent to get to her feet.

Standing at the door with her arms crossed and a smug grin on her face Lauren relished at the thought that she had finally caught Sydney Bristow. "I was informed that you were looking for me."

Sydney grunted as she was pinned to the floor by two guards and handcuffed. She remained silent as she was taken from the home of Stewart Valcin, an associate of The Order, and hauled into a car, blindfolded and restrained. The guards remained with Valcin and Lauren's operative left in another car leaving Sydney alone in the passenger seat of Lauren's Mercedes.

"I've missed you Sydney." She spoke to her as she drove. "It hasn't been the same without you getting in the way, being the virtuous little agent." Sydney remained quiet.

"I didn't want to leave you at that asylum, Danny made me. He always used to give the orders, well now I do. I get what I want." Sydney's silence was aggravating her. "I watched you in your new life for the first few months. When I found out you were marrying that…chef. Of all things you get engaged to a man who could never protect you, could never live up to what you needed. There was so many times when I saw you with him that I wanted to kill him for touching you. You should have been mine. Not Danny's or Vaughn or Calvin's, mine!" Sydney could no longer keep her silence.

"Calvin was a far better person than you could ever be and I loved him! You could never come close!" The car came to a sudden stop and Sydney struggled as she felt herself being dragged closer to Lauren and then Laurens lips crushed against hers. Sydney was pushed away as she gasped for breath and Lauren laughed.

"You kissed back." She said smugly. "I see part of you is still screaming to be Julia Thorne."

"Most of me is screaming to kill you slowly and painfully while you scream for mercy, and I think the majority's going to win." Sydney sneered. Lauren laughed as she drove again.

"I used to scream for you Sydney, you always had a way of making me scream your name and now you're going to scream mine, but it won't be as fun for you as it was for me."


	6. Chapter 6

**Title: **Beyond all limits

**Summary:** Sequel to Skeletons in the closet. With nothing to lose Sydney seeks revenge.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own alias, I only own the character you don't know.

**Timeline:** AU after the first one

**Rating: **R

**A/N: **This is set after skeletons in the closet, if you haven't read it you'll be lost.

Chapter Six

Sydney found herself strapped to a medical bed with sharp looking instruments on a table beside her. "Fuck." She cursed as she pulled against her restraints. She looked over to where Lauren stood in the doorway, a mischievous grin on her face. "Good evening Agent Bristow."

"I'm not an agent." Sydney snapped back. "I'm not CIA, not Covenant, not anything."

"You're rogue Sydney. You have no organisation to belong to. Your actions aren't for the greater good; they don't help the CIA or your country. They're selfish, vengeful actions and that makes you no better than me Sydney. I'm giving you a chance to be happy again Sydney, with me. We were happy as a family with Danny, we can be again, me, you and Elliot."

Sydney laughed and shook her head at the blonde. "You really are stupid Lauren. I would never join you. You're pathetic. My family may be screwed up but a family with you and that traitor would be far worse!"

Lauren sighed and picked up something from the table beside them. When she brought it closer to Sydney she could see it was a needle. "Sodium Pentathol." Lauren informed her. Sydney eyed the blonde coldly as Lauren inserted the needle into her restrained arm.

"Lauren…with or without a truth agent I will always tell you the truth…and the truth is you're a bitch."

Sydney felt the tangy taste of copper in her mouth after Lauren struck her and laughed. "You were right though Lauren, my actions are vengeful, and I enjoy making the people who hurt me suffer. But one thing I'm going to enjoy most in my life is killing you."

Lauren smiled at the comment, which brought a scowl of confusion to Sydney's expression. "Sydney, you want to be careful you're starting to sound a lot like Julia Thorne…oddly the first time we met you threatened to kill me."

"It's not a threat Lauren." Sydney replied. "It's a promise."

Lauren shook her head and then, much to Sydney's disgust, kissed the ex-CIA agent. The kiss was harsh and forced and when Sydney would not respond Lauren bit Sydney's lower lip, the one she had originally drew blood from and then pulled away. "Did you enjoy that?" She whispered huskily into Sydney's ear.

"…Yes." The chemicals forced inside Sydney's body betrayed her and Lauren grinned. "But the next time you so much as touch me I'll break every bone in your body one by one…and right now I can't lie." Lauren struck her again.

"Don't fight me Sydney, I'm not the weak little follower I used to be. I'm someone you don't want as an enemy." She stormed out of the room leaving Sydney alone and still restrained with the Sodium Penathol still in her system.

Sydney lost track of time in the dimly lit room as she lay restrained and desperate to escape. She wasn't sure whether she'd been there hours or days, but as she heard someone come in the room and walk beside her she turned her head to face the person who had interrupted her solitude and thoughts of various ways to kill Lauren.

"You look so different." Sydney ignored the woman who was speaking to her. She heard the scrape of a chair moving across the floor as her visitor sat down beside her. " Actually you don't, you have the bad-ass Julia Thorne look again. I guess Julia finally killed the cute and loveable Syd, huh?" Sydney refused to acknowledge the woman beside her.

"Syd, I didn't kill you fiancé and I didn't tell Lauren where you or he lived. She knew from the start. She watched you for months after you left. I joined her a few months after you left. I just couldn't cope, I broke down and she was the only one there for me…that's something you should understand. You know we tell each other this lie every night before we sleep and every morning when we wake up. We say we love each other…when we don't because neither of us ever stopped loving you…we're just something to take the other's mind of the pain of loving you."

When Sydney didn't respond the woman stood up to leave. "Almost everyone who has ever loved me has been hurt or died because of it…you and Lauren won't be an exception Elle…but I'll kill you quick."

Elle smiled weakly and nodded. "Thank you."

She grasped Sydney's hand and whispered in her ear. "There are security cameras in here, you'll have two minutes to break out before Lauren or any guards can reach you. Go to the CIA ask Kendall to inform you about Project RO-DC."

When Elliot left Sydney felt she had placed a small switchblade in her hand and set about cutting the restraints that held her. If it was a trap then Elliot would regret giving Sydney the knife, she'd use it to tear out Lauren's heart before Elliot's eyes.


	7. Chapter 7

**Title: **Beyond all limits

**Summary:** Sequel to Skeletons in the closet. With nothing to lose Sydney seeks revenge.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own alias, I only own the character you don't know.

**Timeline:** AU after the first one

**Rating: **R

**A/N: **This is set after skeletons in the closet, if you haven't read it you'll be lost. Due to my GCSEs coming up I haven't had much time to write and may not update too much for the month until my exams are over.

Chapter Seven

"Sydney?" The ex CIA agent stopped dead in her tracks as she heard Lauren's voice behind her. She'd snuck into Lauren's dark room a few hours after she'd freed herself and went to the bed to attack Lauren when the door had opened and the lights flooded the room revealing Lauren standing by the door.

"You're dead." Sydney growled with rage and lunged towards the other woman. Lauren had not spent hours being restrained to a chair and spent most of her energy trying to break free, unlike Sydney, so she easily moved from Sydney's sloppy attack.

Sydney tried to punch her once she regained her balance and Lauren easily blocked punch after punch with little effort. "I warned you Sydney." She hissed as she grabbed Sydney neck and slammed her head off a wall. "I'm not the weak little lackey I used to be."

Sydney groaned, as she lay dazed and confused on the floor. "I…will…kill you!" She grunted as she gasped for air. "Even if it kills me!" She lunged for Lauren's midriff and knocked her to the ground. She straddled her and desperately scanned the room for her knife. As she felt cold steel biting at her stomach she looked down to see Lauren holding the knife to her.

"Do it!" Sydney shouted as she stared hard into Lauren's eyes. "Kill me, but just give me one last request."

"Anything." Lauren muttered as she looked into Sydney's broken soul through her eyes.  
"Tell me."

"Tell you what?"

"Did you kill Calvin?" Sydney choked on his name as tears flooded her vision. Lauren sighed as she looked adoringly at Sydney. She leant down to whisper in her ear as she sliced Sydney's stomach causing a deep gash.

"I created him."

Sydney cried out in pain and confusion. "What?" Lauren rose to her feet and pulled Sydney up, causing her to yelp in pain and blood to spill to the carpet. "History has a cruel way of repeating itself Syd." Lauren sneered. "I set it all up. Calvin works for me, I sent him to seduce you and then I faked his death."

"Why?" Sydney wept as she leaned against Lauren just to stand and Lauren gladly embraced her ex lover.

"I wanted to break you." Lauren whispered in her ear. "I needed to destroy you again, make you as helpless as when you came back to me, it was the only way…I never imagined how dark it would make you Syd. You're so perfect now. You're tainted and you're just like me. You can't deny that anymore."

Sydney looked horrified at Lauren. "You…you…" Sydney banged her fists against Lauren as the blonde tried to restrain her. Sydney slumped to her knees and hugged Lauren's legs, pulling her closer. "I give up."

Lauren's grinned and called out to the guard who had been waiting by he door. "Come in here." She took out a gun from a holster on her shoulder and handed it to Sydney. She pulled her to her feet and stood behind her, keeping her on her feet.

When the door opened Calvin West walked in and looked surprised at seeing Sydney and the gun. "Laur-" Sydney fired mid-sentence and delivered a clean shot to the centre of his forehead. She dropped the gun to the floor in defeat and turned to slump into Lauren as she wept.

"Shush sweetheart, it's all going to be ok. I'm going to look after both of us now. I promise I won't let anyone hurt you ever again."

"Elliot." Sydney murmured. "She helped me get free. She betrayed you. She told me to go to Kendall and mention project…"

"RO-DC. Rogue Operative Deep Cover " Lauren interrupted. "I know. I've known for some time, but I needed her until I had you…now I can deal with her."


	8. Chapter 8

**Title: **Beyond all limits

**Summary:** When Elliot's cover is blown and Syd joins Lauren, Elliot has no choice in how to deal with them.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own alias, I only own the character you don't know.

**Timeline:** AU after the first one

**Rating: **R

Chapter Eight

As Elliot watched Lauren and Sydney through the camera she had implanted in Lauren's room she felt sick in her stomach. They had both knew that if ever the chance came for one of them to be with Sydney then they would give up the other in a heartbeat, and even though Elliot had been betraying Lauren from the start, pretending to break down and turn to Lauren while still working for the CIA, she had started to develop feelings again for her ex lover and seeing her betrayal hurt her deeply.

She gathered the few essential belongings she could take and headed for the garage with her gun ready in her hand, she may have been hurting but she had heard Lauren admit that she knew of Elliot's loyalty to the CIA and she wasn't about to wait for Lauren to act.

A few hours later Elliot entered the CIA base of operations and was greeted with applause from the agents around her. She had spent months away from her family and friends, forced to work for an enemy she had despised while recovering from Sydney leaving.

Weiss hugged her tightly as she walked up to him and Vaughn. "Welcome back Elliot." She smiled weakly as Vaughn stared at her.

"Lauren knows?" She nodded.

"Apparently she's known for a while, she just wanted me around until she got Sydney back…"

"You left Sydney in her hands?" Vaughn shouted, his disgust evident in his voice.

"No. She stayed by choice…Lauren messed with her head again…she's joined Lauren."

"Fuck!" Vaughn roared and shook his head in disbelief. "How did this happen?"

"That's a question I'd like answered myself." Kendall added from behind Elliot. She turned to find a frown on his face. "What happened?"

After debriefing Kendall, Vaughn, Weiss, Jack and Dixon, Elliot informed them of the spies planted in the agency by Lauren and left to visit Zac at his apartment. When he opened the door and saw the grave expression on her face he silently moved aside to let her in.

"Lauren knows?" He asked.

"Yup."

"Sydney joined her didn't she?"

"Yup."

He wrapped his arms around his partner and sighed. "I miss her." He muttered. "I miss the old days, me, you and her working as a team…"

"Working undercover, deceiving her and putting her in danger because of our choices…Sometimes I even have to think if there was ever a time when I didn't lie to her…"

"You didn't lie when you told her you loved her." Zac replied as he wiped the tears from Elliot's cheeks.

"Lauren needs to be stopped, she's still going for her big finish and Kendall's still intent to stop it, Sydney's just a glitch in the plan…and I know how to deal with glitches." She pulled out her gun and loaded a new cartridge into it.

"You can't be serious…" Zac objected.

"Kendall gave me clearance…Sydney broke into the CIA, stole and tortured one of its prisoners and attacked two CIA officers…she's out of control and she is way past redemption Zac…"

"You don't know that!" Zac objected. "The Syd we knew was so pure and moral that I can't believe that no part of her still exists inside of her…she's been through so much pain, she just needs help."

"I'm going to help her Zac…after I've dealt with her she won't feel anymore pain ever again…it's the only way. Our Syd was dead long before the empty shell she is now came back to us…it's the only way and you know it!"

"How can you kill her?" Zac asked, tears in his eyes and anger and fear in his expression. "I thought you loved her." Elliot's gaze dropped to the floor momentarily to hide the pain that flashed on to her face, but moments later she stared into his gaze defiantly.

"I'm doing this because I love her…it's the only way we can save her. If you really still care about her then you'd help me."

She took out her wallet and after opening it threw it on to the coffee table that separated them. "You'd help her." Zac stared down at the old photograph of Elliot, Sydney and himself from their SD-6 days. He nodded in defeat and hung his head.

"When's Lauren scheduling to put her plan in to action?" He asked, a sulking tone in his voice.

"Tomorrow. We're going in with Jack's team and they'll take care of Lauren…we have to handle Sydney." He nodded in agreement.

"It has to be painless for her." He added.

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

"What about Jack?"

"He…he was the one who asked if I could be the one to deal with Sydney…he knows I'll do what's necessary as painlessly as I can."

Zac nodded and looked at his hands as he spoke. "Can you really do this?" Elliot shook her head.

"In less than twenty-four hours I have to kill the woman I have loved for over seven years…as her friend I can't do that…but as an agent I have no choice."


	9. Chapter 9

**Title: **Beyond all limits

**Summary:**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own alias, I only own the character you don't know.

**Timeline:** AU after the first one

**Rating: **R

Chapter Nine

"Sydney." Lauren whispered in her ear as she lay beside her.

"Hmm?" Sydney replied sleepily.

"Do you still love me?" Lauren asked. "When you were Julia you told me you loved me more than you did Danny. Do you still feel that way?"

Sydney lay still and silent beside her as she thought about her answer. "When I couldn't remember I knew I should hate you for having Vaughn…but inside I felt…I felt like I hated Vaughn more and I didn't know why. Even when I'm supposed to hate you I never stop loving you." Sydney admitted in barely a whisper.

"Would you do anything for me?"

"Yes."

"I want you to lead a team of operatives to break Danny out of CIA custody." Sydney stiffened at the mention of Danny. Lauren's arms wrapped around her to comfort her. "It's ok Syd, we just need some information from him…for the big finale after that we'll be untouchable and we can be together without Danny, Vaughn or Elliot getting in the way." Sydney smiled at the thought of finally being able to settle down and not have her heart be pulled in four different directions.

"I'll do anything for you." She rose to her feet and grabbed her jacket. "There are some things I need from my hotel room. I'll be back in the morning." She kissed Lauren before heading for the door.

"I could send someone to get your things. Stay here with me." Lauren objected. Sydney turned to her with disappointment in her eyes.

"I would do anything for you and yet you can't even bring yourself to trust me."

Lauren sighed and pouted. "I just want you to be with me…"

A sly grin spread over Sydney's lips. "After your plan works we'll have all the time in the world to get reacquainted."

"I'll hold you to that." Lauren smirked before frowning as Sydney left the room.

The next morning both Lauren's organization and the CIA planned their missions for that night. Zac and Elliot sat quietly in the briefing room exchanging guilty looks with Jack. For the three of them their main mission was to be able to remember that Sydney Bristow had died a long time ago and the woman they needed to take out was just another terrorist.

Sydney prepared for her mission with the team she was to lead in to the CIA to steal Daniel Hecht. They were doing it in broad daylight, which was risky, but they needed him before the main mission of the night, otherwise it would fail.

They dressed all in black and covered their faces and after they had all of their gadgets and weaponry they headed to the CIA building which would be full of agents and staff going about their daily routines, including the people Sydney had once considered her friends, now they were nothing more than obstacles to her.


	10. Chapter 10

**Title: **Beyond all limits

**Summary:** Sydney attempts to abduct Daniel Hecht, but Elliot stands in her way.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own alias, I only own the characters you don't know.

**Timeline:** AU after the first one

**Rating: **R

**A/N: **I haven't updated for a while as I was having problems getting on to my account and I've just had my GSCEs so I didn't have time to write, but now I've finished High School and will have a lot more time to write.

Chapter Ten

The operation was quick and orderly. Sydney and her masked team stormed the CIA building, taking out the security detail first with tranquilizers, Sydney had insisted on tranquilizers, as they weren't there to kill, and they had rounded up all of the staff in the main hall while two of Lauren's agents went to obtain Daniel Hecht.

Sydney stood unmasked in the main hall with various CIA agents and staff around her, some had been friends, some were new faces and had no idea why the more experienced agents were so wary of her, but none of them mattered, because two agent were missing.

She went to a computer beside her and started the internal intercom system and spoke in to the headset she had removed from an agent. "Agents Gable and Julian Sark, I know you're both in the building, you have five minutes to be in front of me or else you're colleagues will pay the price, starting with agent Minear."

Sark grabbed the sleeve of Elliot's suit jacket as she went to head for the door of the utility closet they had taken refuge in. "She's going to kill Zach!" Elliot hissed, fear and despair showing in her eyes.

"If we go out there now it's over. We have to think logically and make a plan." Sark insisted. "Sydney isn't some bumbling terrorist who'll negotiate. She's the best agent this agency has had in the past ten years and that makes her dangerous."

"Wrong." Elliot pulled her gun out and aimed it at Sark. "She's second best." Sark stared down at the barrel of the .9mm Elliot was holding.

"Elliot, she truly brings out the worst in you."

"Go, give your self up." Elliot ordered, putting the gun back in its holster. "I need a minute or two, then I'll be right there…please Sark, I've mentored you since the day I saw you in Kendall's office." Sark sighed and headed silently for the door. He paused with his hand on the handle.

"Don't die." He asked simply and left to hand himself in.

When one of Lauren's agents threw Sark to his knees in front of Sydney she wasn't satisfied. "Where is Elliot Gable?" Sark didn't answer and she struck him causing him to strike his head off the floor. She pulled him back up by the shirt and practically growled in his face. "Where. Is. She?"

"She isn't here." Sark replied, staring Sydney in the eyes. "She left an hour ago."

Sydney shook her head and struck him again. "Not good enough Sark." She pulled out her own gun and with two shots Agent Zach Minear fell to the ground with two shots to the heart.

The agents around them screamed or watched in frozen terror as their colleague lay dead on the floor. After the second shot Sydney's men aimed their weapons towards the entrance to the hall where Elliot stood in plain sight holding a pistol with an M68 sight on it directly at Sydney. Sydney looked down to her chest where a red dot sat just above her heart from the M68.

"You're going to shoot me?" Sydney asked. "When there are at least ten good marksmen aiming at you?" A small grin slowly spread over Elle's lips as she answered.

"Yeah, you see Bristow, I'm an _excellent _marksmen. I pull the trigger and you're definitely dead. You've just killed my partner and closest friend and so I'm feeling slightly pissed, so just give me an excuse to fire."

Sydney could see determination in her eyes but the tears threatening to spill out were also clearly evident. "Do you remember Brazil, 1999?" Sydney asked as her own gun aimed at Elliot. Elliot nodded and her smile was almost sincere. "After the target offered to let me live if I joined his organization, you killed him thirty seconds after I refused. You told me even a good agent could change their loyalties, but a great agent would die for what they believe in. Do you still want to be a great agent?"

Tears were rolling down Sydney's cheeks as she held her gun at Elle, her first partner and oldest, still living, friend. "Do you?" Elliot choked out. "It's not too late Syd."

When the two agents returned with Danny bound and gagged Sydney shook her head. "I'm afraid it is." She fired without warning and Elliot was caught off guard. She fell beside Zach with her pistol dropped out of reach. After firing Sydney rushed over to her fallen friend and knelt beside her.

"I love you." She whispered in Elliot's ear as she wrapped her arms around Sydney with her last ounce of strength. "But it's too late." As Elliot's eyes closed Sydney gently laid her on the floor and got back to her feet.

"Move out." She ordered her agents and the men started to retreat to the exit with their guns still targeting the CIA staff. Sydney was the last to retreat, with one last glimpse at Elliot and Zach as they lay only centimetres apart. She knew she should have been with them; they were her partners, her friends and now her victims.

When she returned to Lauren after restraining Danny and leaving him in a locked cell she looked troubled and as she slumped silently in a chair Lauren knew something had gone on. "What happened?"

"Agents Elliot Gable and Zachary Minear were eliminated." Sydney muttered bitterly.

"By who?" Lauren's voice was choked, she had at one time loved Elliot and now she was being told of her death.

"Me." Sydney replied even quieter as she looked at the floor.

Lauren knelt down beside her and held Sydney's head in her hands, causing her to look up in to her eyes. "Sydney, after tomorrow none of this will hurt anymore, we will have unlimited power and I can take care of you sweetheart. I promise, just one more day, can you do that for me?" Sydney nodded slowly.

"How?" Syd finally muttered after a few moments of silence. Lauren smiled like the cat that got the cream and held Sydney's hands as she talked.  
"Danny was working on developing a computer programme before the CIA arrested him, if it's successful it will create any computer I log on to with the details a master computer to any computer connected to the Internet. It will not allow the user to access a program, check their mail or even start a game of solitaire without permission from the master computer. It will render the world's economy helpless unless we get exactly what we want."

"And what is that?" Sydney asked, her gaze hollow and bitter from years of anguish.

"Everything and anything." Lauren replied.

"They'll hack the program." Sydney objected, she no longer felt she could believe in any of Lauren's, or a terrorist's, plans or dreams, she'd destroyed them all easily before, and someone at the CIA was bound to take her place. There was always going to be another Elliot Gable or Sydney Bristow who would defend their country and stop the enemy.

"The password changes randomly every four seconds, only I will have access to the password." Lauren explained.

"How?" Sydney asked, Lauren pulled away and headed to the door to pay a visit to Danny. She smiled as she reached the door and turned to face Sydney.

"I trust you luv, but if I told you that what would stop you taking me out once we had the program and using for yourself?"

"Trust?" Sydney replied staring in to her eyes. "We are partners after all Hun. Lauren smiled and left the room. She may have loved Sydney Bristow but with the volatile personality she had developed she had no intentions of trusting her without doubt.


	11. Chapter 11

**Title: **Beyond all limits

**Summary:** While Lauren and Danny make a deal Sydney goes to a funeral.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own alias, I only own the characters you don't know.

**Timeline:** AU after the first one

**Rating: **R

"Sydney killed Elliot." When Lauren sat down in front of Danny those were the first words he muttered. "And Zach…in cold blood."

"I'm aware of that."

"What did we to her Lauren?" Danny's gaze was cold and hollow and Lauren felt like she was looking in to Sydney's eyes. "She was…so special and we turned her in to…that."

Lauren was all to painfully aware of Danny's point. "She's not Sydney anymore." Lauren replied quietly. "She's not even Julia."

"She's worse." Danny added.

As Lauren sat quietly staring at the blank wall behind Danny he finally asked the question that was causing tension among them. "So when are you going to kill me?"

Lauren looked at him and sighed. "I don't know anymore. I've already lost Sydney and Elle, I don't know if I could lose you too." He smiled slightly, the tension between them slowly disappearing.

"I'll give you the location of the program, but it will take a few days to recover and put in to place. I'll happily follow your lead Lauren. You're the boss."

"Sydney won't like it." Lauren sighed; already knowing what Danny's reply would be before he spoke.

"Perhaps Sydney really is gone, maybe when she left the asylum to live her normal happy life Sydney Bristow died, but when she lost her fiancé and became that murdering, cold hearted bitch, Sydney was definitely gone. The only way to control someone like her is…"

"It might not have to come to that." Lauren interrupted him. "We'll get the program and exactly what we want, and we'll let Sydney believe that you are in fact going to die. Otherwise there will be unwanted repercussions which could affect the operation."

"And if there are?"

"Then we'll have to deal with Sydney."

Two days later, as Lauren was out of the country with Danny, forcing him to retrieve the program for her, Sydney stood in a cemetery in Boston where Elliot and Zach had both been born and grew up on the same street. The other mourners consisted of CIA members, old SD-6 agents who had knew Elliot and Zach and kept in touch after becoming civilians, their parents, family members, Jack, Dixon, Marshall, Vaughn and Sark and a few friends.

Sydney stood out of the way near a tree as the service went on for the two fallen agents. When it was over and most of the mourners had dispersed she approached Elliot's mother, she had met her a few times when they had worked together at SD-6 and the old woman recognized her instantly. "Sydney. It's so nice to see you." The old woman hugged her and she felt a pang of guilt in her heart as she returned the hug. No one had told her whom her daughter's killer was and as Sydney's father approached she was confident no one was going to cause a scene in public. "Were you over there for the whole service?" Sydney nodded as she blinked back tears. "Elliot would be glad you were here, she was so upset when she had to move from the Credit Dauphine and the two of you lost touch. She would have been so happy to see you."

"I'm sorry for your loss." Sydney had no idea what to say to the woman. "She was very special. All of these years we hadn't been in touch for; I never stopped wondering how she was doing."

"She came to see me a few ago." The old woman spoke as Sydney walked her to her car.

"Oh." Sydney feared the old woman knew more than she thought. "How was she then?"

"She was different…she was so sad. She told me that she had to do something at work that she wouldn't be proud of but she had no choice. I tried to ask her about it, but she said it was just bank stuff and it would confuse me. She gave me something actually. It's for you, I was hoping you'd come today so I could give it to you." She took out an envelope from her pocket and handed it to Sydney. "She asked me to give it to you if she had to leave the country on business, as you'd know about it."

Sydney took the letter with trembling hands. "Are you coming to the wake afterwards?"

"Uh no. I just need some time on my own. I'm sorry. Take care Mrs. Gable." Sydney hugged the womanly briefly before turning to leave with the letter.

"Don't be a stranger Sydney." The old woman called out as she got in her car.

Sydney fingered the envelope as she sat in her car. Elliot had been prepared for her death, that was why she had gone to see her mother, just incase she never got another chance. Sydney opened the envelope and found a handwritten letter inside.

'_Dear Syd. If you're reading this then_ _I'm dead and chances are it's because of you. Everything's changed so much that it's hard to believe you ever needed me to show you the ropes and take you under my wing. After everything that's happened I'm still proud of you Syd, and I can guarantee that even as you killed me I still felt proud of you. I love you Syd and I never gave up on you, not when you were with Danny, or Lauren or when you gave up on life. I never gave up on you Sydney and I never will. Love Elle XXX.' _

"Damn it Elle." Sydney muttered out loud. Even after her death Elliot could still affect her. "How the hell do you do this to me?"

When Sydney returned to the large estate Lauren owned she found her sitting in their room waiting for her. "Where were you?"

"You're home early." Sydney replied as she changed out of the plain black dress she had worn to the funeral.

"Where were you Sydney?" Lauren repeated, raising her voice.

"You know where I was!" Sydney spat out venomously. "You watch my every move, because you don't trust me! And I'm sick of it Lauren. Follow me all you like, just don't be arrogant enough to think I don't know you do!" Lauren's features softened as she embraced Sydney.

"Let's not fight sweetie. We have the program now. Elliot Gable and the rest of the CIA don't matter anymore. We're going to have everything we desire." Sydney forced a smile as Lauren talked to her, while on the inside she was screaming.

She felt like she had lost the only thing she wanted and there was nothing she could do about. The world governments could give them money and power, but they couldn't give them everything and Sydney could never have what she wanted. They couldn't raise the dead.


	12. Chapter 12

**Title: **Beyond all limits

**Summary:** '_Sydney was once again crumbling_ '

**Disclaimer:** I don't own alias, I only own the characters you don't know.

**Timeline:** AU after the first one

**Rating: **R

**A/N: **I apologise that it's taken so long for me to update this but certain things have prevented me from writing much the past two weeks.

When Lauren asked Sydney for the last thing they needed to make the program work she was torn inside. She needed to abduct Marshall. Steal him from his family and possibly kill him afterwards so that he could not stop the program, and inside as Sydney was once again crumbling she did not think she could take Marshall away from everyone who loved him and then kill him once he was of no use.

Lauren had persuaded her otherwise and so she sat waiting in her car for Marshall to return home from work. As she sat on her own she contemplated what would happen if she did kill Marshall and her mind came up with one conclusion. Mitchell. Little Mitchell would grow up without his father, full of rage and hatred towards his father's killer and then he would go looking for Sydney, try to kill her, maybe even succeed.

As Sydney stared at herself in the wing mirror she was met by a hollow gaze staring back at her. She had never wanted to turn out this way, an angry and vengeful person with little to live for, no friends and no family. Her only companion was a murderous psychopath and her gun.

When she saw Marshall enter his house she picked up her most comforting companion and prepared to break in to the house. But as she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror she paused and placed the gun below her chin, her finger itching to pull the trigger and end her pain.

Lauren and Danny watched Sydney from a camera they had hidden in the car and as her finger was placed over the trigger both forgot to breath. After a few seconds Sydney sighed and placed the gun in its holster before leaving the car.

"She's becoming unstable again." Danny said what they were both thinking and Lauren's silence only showed her agreement. "She's a liability. You need to deal with that…"

"And you need to keep your mouth shut and do as you're told, is that clear?"

"Crystal."

Inside the Flinkman residence Marshall sat in his study as Carrie made dinner downstairs while watching Mitchell. When he heard the study door open he expected it to be Carrie bringing Mitchell to say goodnight before bed. When he turned around and found Sydney standing by the closed door, a gun in her hand and a sorrowful look settled on her features he knew he was in trouble.

"I need you to come with me Marshall." She said simply as she stood staring at him.

"And if…what if I don't…" Marshall's eyes were glued to the gun in her hands.

"Don't make this hard Marshall, your wife and child are downstairs." A year ago Marshall would have thought Sydney were bluffing, but a year ago Sydney wouldn't be standing in his house with a gun aimed at him.

"Ok." He stood up and put his coat on before walking out of the room, closely followed by Sydney and her gun.

When Carrie saw Marshall walk downstairs she smiled until she noticed Sydney behind him, and the barrel of a gun visible in the space between them. "Marshall?"

"It's ok dear…well it's not, but…just stay with Mitchell I'll…I'll be alright." He kissed his wife and son one last time before being escorted out of the house by Sydney. Part of him knew that he wouldn't be returning.

"My associates and I require your services." She says plainly and Marshall thinks she sounds so much like Lauren it's pathetic. "If you don't cooperate we will kill your family, as long as you do as instructed you'll go back home safely to them. Is that understood?"

Marshall let out a short sarcastic laugh, he'd grown a lot in the months she hadn't seen him. "Whatever you want you'll get from me then you'll kill me. We both know it." It was the first time Sydney had heard him confidently say a whole sentence without stammering or going of topic.

"I want to make this as painless as possible Marshall. I promise it'll be quick." It's the closest thing to comfort she can give her old friend and colleague.

When I take him blindfolded to the destination Lauren has set he is surprised when he opens his eyes and sees his office. Lauren and Danny are already there, with a troop of hired mercenaries taking the CIA staff hostage once more.

"Marshall's office computer is one of the most advanced in this country, it's the best place to put the program in to effect." Danny explained and the very sound of his voice made Sydney want to shoot him. "In a few hours we'll be untouchable…"

"We?" Sydney repeated, her brow raised in suspicion. "Lauren?"

"I agreed to let Danny join us, in a strictly subordinate position, he has after all helped us achieve this, he deserves some reward."

"He deserves to die." Sydney growled bitterly.  
"Sydney, go keep watch on the CIA members with the mercenaries. Now!" Lauren ordered. With one last sneer at Danny she did as she was told and left.

Lauren sighed. "You're right, she's becoming out of control again."

"What will we do?" Danny asked, his arm slipping around her waist.

"You'll get your hands off of me for a start!" Lauren snapped and pulled away. "After tonight we take Sydney out of the field, no more killing and no more missions, I'll make her retire, try and salvage what sanity she has left."

Danny nodded, unfazed by Lauren's rejection. "I'll instruct Marshall here on what needs to be done, with his skills it should only take a few hours."

"What if he alerts someone?" Lauren asked cautiously.

"By the time he's far enough in to it's setup to alert anyone it'll be too late, besides I doubt he wants that handsome boy of his to die before he even gets to play group."


	13. Chapter 13

**Title: **Beyond all limits

**Summary:**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own alias, I only own the characters you don't know.

**Timeline:** AU after the first one

**Rating: **R

**A/N: **It's taken a while for me to update, as I haven't been able to sign in to my account due to technical problems.

As Sydney kept watch over the CIA staff her gaze travelled to where Sark, Vaughn and her father sat on the other side of the room with their hands bound. "Who would you like to murder today?" Sydney looked over to where the question had came from and found Sark staring at her, pure hatred and disgust shining through his eyes.

"Shut up." Sydney growled.

"You murdered Elliot, she was my…our mentor. She told you how to survive and for the umpteenth time in your life you let her down."

"Shut up!" Sydney strode over to him and pulled him up by his collar. "You don't know a damn thing Sark!"

She let go of him and he fell to the floor with a satisfying thump, but he hadn't finished. "I know one thing, she loved you more than anything else in this world." Sydney paused on her way back to the wall she had been leaning on, her fist tightening in rage.

"I know." Sydney muttered in defeat before walking briskly out of the room.

She slumped down against a wall far away from the main room where Sark and the others were being held and began to let silent tears slip from her eyes. She wasn't sure how long she could try and keep it together.

It was a few hours later that Lauren contacted Sydney on her radio. "The program is almost complete, come back to Marshall's office A.S.A.P." Sydney took a deep breath and did as she was told.

When she arrived in Marshall's office Lauren took hold of her hand and led her to the computer where Marshall was typing away. "It's in place." Lauren beamed and removed Sydney's .9 mm from its holster and placed it in Sydney's shaking hand.

"This is the last thing Sydney. I promise. After this there'll be no more lies, no more death, just the two of us living happily ever after…"

"No." Sydney's lower lip quivered as she looked deep in to Lauren's eyes. "It doesn't have to be like this. The password will change, he won't be able to crack it…"

"He'll find a way." Danny cut in from the other side of the room. "It's the only way Syd."

"Shut up!" Sydney pointed the gun towards him. "You're not in charge here Danny." Sydney's pleading eyes turned towards Lauren. "Please, just let him live."

Lauren looked torn as she looked between Sydney and the computer screen. She sighed as she pulled out her own gun and fired two bullets in to Marshall's chest.

Sydney's legs buckled beneath her as Marshall fell forward on to the computer screen, his eyes closing and his last breath escaping his lips. She sat on the ground, silent; her eyes wide open staring at the body of her once long time friend.

"We're finished here." Lauren instructed Danny to get the mercenaries as she knelt down beside Sydney. "It had to be done Syd."

Sydney stared past her, with silent tears staining her cheeks and her eyes wide in shock. It took both Danny and Lauren to carry Sydney out of the CIA building and in to the van they had arrived in. She remained staring silently at nothing all the way back to their home and as Lauren placed her in their bed with a cup of hot, sugary tea beside her she was terrified that she'd broken Sydney again.

As she held Sydney in her arms she wanted to stay there forever, comforting her lover, but Danny needed her for when they contacted various authorities throughout the world to give them a demonstration of why it would be a good idea to cooperate with them and give them all their demands, so she reluctantly let go of Sydney and went with Danny.

Rotunda, CIA 

Jack, Sark, Vaughn and another CIA agent sat in the briefing room as Dixon informed them of what their mission consisted of. "Langley has given us permission to try and obtain the device to which the passwords for the program are sent to. If we fail there will be cataclysmic consequences. Lauren Reed and Daniel Hecht could cripple America's economy in seconds. We need to be cautious on this one people. We've located her base of operations, satellite surveillance has shown it is heavily guarded and Danny and Lauren run the program from a master computer in a basement below the mansion, the only way in is with a key card and combination, only three people have that combination. Lauren Reed, Daniel Hecht and Sydney Bristow. Langley wants them alive if possible, but you have full permission to shoot to kill. You leave in an hour. Good luck."


	14. Chapter 14

**Title: **Beyond all limits

**Summary:** The CIA have one last attempt to take down Lauren and Sydney.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own alias, I only own the characters you don't know.

**Timeline:** AU after the first one

**Rating: **PG-13

**A/N: **This is the penultimate chapter, only one left to go.

The three CIA agents hid outside the residence where Lauren, Danny and Sydney were residing and formulated an infiltration plan. They had to act quietly to get to Lauren and the password or else they risked grave consequences.

Inside Lauren and Danny had just finished a videoconference with various world leaders that had ended in their submission after the stock market took a brief plummet. After the demonstration Danny went up to check on Sydney and found her still lying completely still on her bed, her gaze far off and distant.

When he approached the secure entrance to the basement he found himself surrounded by three masked operatives with theirs guns trained on him. "The combination." The gruff, no nonsense voice could belong only to Jack Bristow. They took his key card and Jack repeated his order again.

"If I don't give it to you then you can't get in, it's impenetrable, you'll take me to CIA custody and then Lauren will get pissed and demand my return otherwise America will become a third world nation."

"Who said anything about custody?" Agent Vaughn shoved Danny against the wall with his gun pressing in to his trachea.

"When you put it like that." Danny told them the code and was forced at gunpoint in to the basement below.

The gunfire started the second Danny had dived to the floor and the CIA agents were forced to take cover before returning fire. It took over ten minutes to take out or disarm all of the hired guards, but in the hail of bullets it had felt longer to Vaughn. As Jack secured the survivors Vaughn took in one thing among the bodies, the wounded and the prisoners, Lauren wasn't among them. "Jack! Lauren's gone!" His angry gaze looked over to where Danny sat with a gunshot wound in his shoulder, laughing at their stupidity.

"There are two codes to that door, one that opens it and one that opens it after an internal alarm has been set off…oh and when it closes after being opened by the trap combination it won't reopen without the master code."

"Which is?" Jack ordered as he stood with his gun digging in to Danny's gut.

"Only Lauren knows that." Danny smirked. "She wouldn't trust me with it…"

"Danny?"

"Yes Jack?"

"You were never good enough for Sydney." The gun in Danny's gut went off as the last word was said and his eyes widened in shock and horror as the blood oozed out of his wound and he became more and more dizzy.

When he collapsed to the ground Jack turned to the slightly shocked Vaughn. "Daniel Hecht was killed during an exchange of gunfire with the enemy. Understood?"

"Just like Lauren." Vaughn replied, and Jack nodded, a silent agreement passing between them.

"Lauren didn't take the main entrance out, there had to be another exit."

As she hurried through the tunnel built in to the wall of the mansion she came to the end and pushed against the door. When Lauren emerged from the walk in closet Sydney sat up, slightly puzzled.

"The CIA is here, we have to move. I have still have the passwords for the program, we can access it from any computer thanks to Marshall…" Sydney winced at the name and Lauren sighed.

"It's us or them Sydney, remember that. Grab your gun, there'll be a helicopter on the roof by the time we get there."

Lauren went to walk towards the door but the third CIA agent kicked open the door with their gun in hand and aimed at Lauren. The black mask, which had previously covered the third agent's face, was gone and Lauren stood frozen in shock and fear at the sight of the agent in front of her.

"It isn't possible, you're…you're dead!" Lauren's gun aimed for the agent automatically.

"I guess you can't keep a good woman down." The natural smirk settled on the agent's graceful features and Lauren scowled. "It's a trick! Sydney. Sydney killed you!"

"No, Sydney killed my Kevlar vest." Elliot replied. "The CIA knew you were up to something big. And they knew you'd be prepared for the CIA, but not a dead woman."

"I think it's time you resumed that status. I'll finish what Sydney started." Lauren's finger went to pull the trigger when the sound of a bullet loading in to a gun chamber filled the silence that had settled on the room. Lauren turned slowly to see Sydney standing behind her with her gun aimed towards her. "Sydney?"

"Drop the gun Lauren. Don't make me kill you." A look of confusion settled over Lauren's face as she tried to comprehend what was going on. "You're not the only one who can play people Lauren."

"How long?" Lauren choked out, hurt by Sydney's betrayal.

"Two months after I met Calvin." Sydney answered. "Elliot gave me proof of what you were up to, planting Calvin in my life, planning on getting him to ask me to marry him and then faking his death to send me over the edge. So that I'd I want revenge. You planned it all, that I'd come after you and you'd convince me to be with you. Well since Elliot informed me of your plan I decided I'd make it happen exactly how you wanted it to Lauren."

"What about the funeral?" Lauren objected. "The CIA, her parents, they all went to the funeral, how could they pull that off? You were grieving in your car, you couldn't fake that kind of loss…"

"My mother was a secretary in the CIA, and all of the 'family' and 'guests'

Were CIA." Elliot explained.

"Nice touch with the letter." Sydney added. "We knew you had my car bugged and if you saw me upset you'd know I wasn't faking it, Elliot's letter really helped me pull it off, real tears are so much more convincing."

"You used me." Lauren was close to tears. "Did you ever love me?" Sydney paused as she was about to answer and her expression remained blank as she finally answered.

"Once, a long time ago, before I returned to the CIA, before Elliot came back…"

"I wont lose you to **her**!" Lauren roared and aimed to fire at Sydney.

As Vaughn and Jack entered the walk in closet via the escape tunnel they'd found they heard three shots ring out in the room that contained that closet and they rushed out with their weapons drawn. They paused as they took in the scene before them, and as Vaughn watched the blood begin to stop flowing from the fatal wound he dropped to his knees and tried in vain to apply pressure to the wound, but it was too late.


	15. Chapter 15

**Title: **Beyond all limits

**Summary:**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own alias, I only own the characters you don't know.

**Timeline:** AU after the first one

**Rating: **PG-13

**A/N: **I've finally finished this story; I'd like to thank everyone who has read this, reviewed it and just put up with my sparse updating.

The funeral was small and discreet, and only a handful of mourners and the priest stood by the grave as the service went on. "I didn't think you'd show." One of the mourners at the back whispered as a woman stood beside her.

"I loved her once, before all the lies, and the deceit. Nothing can change that." The new guest whispered back. "I know you must hate me right now, but I had to shoot her…"

Without looking down the woman's hand took hold of the new guest's, silencing her as the priest talked. When it was over and all the other guests had gone it was just the two of them left beside the grave of their dead ex-lover.

"I don't hate you for killing her, you saved my life."

"When it came down to you or her…It had to be you Sydney." Sydney Bristow looked down at the grave of Lauren Reed and whispered goodbye before turning to look at Elliot.

"Did you mean what you said?" She asked as Elliot knelt down by the grave to say her goodbyes. She stood up looking puzzled. "Your letter, the one your mom gave me. Did you mean it?"

"Yeah, I've always been proud of you Sydney, you were mine and Zach's responsibility and I'd say we did a pretty damn good job…I'll never give up on you Syd, and I'll never give up loving you. I'm kind of stubborn that way."

"How is Zach?" Sydney avoided Elliot's burning gaze.

"He's happy he can finally go out again, he hated the CIA safe house. He was a little happier when Marshall joined us; he hated not knowing what was going on. I think Marshall's now permanently wearing a bulletproof vest. We didn't want him knowing you were still CIA so we had to tell him you planned on killing him and that we'd give him the vest and protect his family. He was so happy when we told him you'd been under cover. I guess you can go back to your life now."

"Yeah." Sydney agreed as they walked towards the exit of the graveyard.

"So…are you leaving the CIA for real this time?" Sydney paused as she got to her car and stared at her mentor with an unreadable expression.

"Leaving the CIA, this life, it used to be my dream. Now I know that's all it will ever be. I told myself that after I took SD-6 down it would be over, then it was a matter of taking Sloane down, then the Covenant, Danny, Lauren. I guess I finally realized there would always be a Sloane, or an SD-6 and while there is I will never allow myself to just stand by and let them carry on. I can't leave the CIA."

Elliot smiled slightly. "So, Zach and I are thinking about taken on an old partner, now that the scores are all even, but we're not sure if she'll want us again…"

"I want you." Sydney smiled. "And Zach, of course." She blushed as Elliot took hold of her hand.

"I want you too Syd. Always have, always will."

Sydney pulled her hand away, but Elliot didn't lose her smile. "I can't wait Sydney. I'll wait till you're ready, no matter how long that takes." Sydney leant forward and placed a soft kiss on her lips.

"How about we start with dinner and see where it takes us?" She smiled warmly at her mentor and friend. "Besides, I'm kind of homeless at the moment, and your couch has my name on it."

"Actually I think my bed has your name on it." Elliot grinned playfully.

"Really? I guess the couch must have your name on it then." Sydney teased. Elliot laughed and sighed.

"I think you'll find I'm very patient Miss Bristow."

Sydney had a mischevious glint in her eyes as she replied. "Maybe you've waited long enough." Elliot was about to reply when her beeper went off. She sighed as she checked it and Sydney's cell phone started ringing.

"One Lauren goes down, another appears. Well agent Bristow, I may be waiting a little longer."


End file.
